Clinton win prolongs battle

PHILADELPHIA – Hillary Rodham Clinton ground out a gritty victory in the Pennsylvania primary Tuesday night, defeating Barack Obama and staving off elimination in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Some counted me out and said to drop out,” the former first lady told supporters cheering her triumph in a state where she was outspent by more than 2-to-1. “But the American people don’t quit. And they deserve a president who doesn’t quit, either.”

Her victory, while comfortable, set up another critical test in two weeks time in Indiana. North Carolina votes the same day, and Obama already is the clear favorite in that Southern state with a large black population.

“Now it’s up to you, Indiana,” Obama said at a rally of his own in Evansville after Pennsylvania denied him a victory that might have made the nomination his.

Clinton was winning 55 percent of the vote to 45 percent for her rival with 94 percent counted in Pennsylvania.

A preliminary tabulation showed her gaining at least 52 convention delegates to 46 for Obama, with 60 still to be awarded.

That left Obama with 1,694.5 delegates, and Clinton with 1,561.5, according to the AP tally. It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.

Clinton scored her victory by winning the votes of blue-collar workers, women and white men while Obama was favored by blacks, the affluent and voters who recently switched to the Democratic Party, according to surveys conducted by The Associated Press and TV networks.

VOTER TURNOUT HIGH

PHILADELPHIA – Election officials projected turnout among Pennsylvania’s 8.3 million registered voters at 40 percent to 50 percent for the presidential primary, double that of the state’s primary four years ago.

Secretary of State Pedro Cortes said Tuesday that for the 2004 primary 21 percent of Democrats, Republicans, independents and other registered voters turned out.

The Associated Press

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